Let's get this out of the way: I couldn't find a single reason to use the Mad Catz R.A.T. Air's thumb barrel. That's partly because of its placement, which was difficult to reach when using a palm grip, and partly because it didn't seem any more convenient than the scroll wheel. I couldn't get the tilt wheel to work reliably enough to judge its effectiveness for myself, either. Given the hardware issues, maybe the R.A.T. Air's software is good? Nope. Mad Catz's software offers the usual features -- CPI settings, acceleration, et cetera -- as well as the ability to create multiple profiles for use with different games. But it's also a buggy mess that's frustrating to install, let alone use.

For power, the R.A.T. DWS uses a AA battery, which you insert into a semi-hidden tube in the mouse's base. According to Mad Catz, a single cell should supply 200 hours of play time when using 2.4GHz WiFi, and up to 300 hours when using Bluetooth. Those are strong numbers, even among cell-powered mice that tend to get more than one hundred hours of battery life per charge. Kowloon, Hong Kong – Jan 11, 2021 - Mad Catz Global Limited, the leading innovators in gaming hardware, are excited to announce a new gaming mouse, the B.A.T. 6+. Combining the elements of fast and powerful design, the truly ambidextrous gaming mouse offers the ultimate customizability and comfort, allowing every gamer to swap the side skirts and palm rests at will under each circumstance. Equipped with a high-end 16K DPI sensor and the 2ms response time of the DAKOTA™ switch, B.A.T. 6+ makes you become the mobile armory. Mad Catz created a bespoke configuration app for customizing the R.A.T. DWS' settings. The app, which looks nearly identical to the F.L.U.X. app Mad Catz used for the R.A.T. 8+, lets you remap 14 inputs. The remapping UI, which lets you drag and drop action icons into slots that point to their inputs, is surprisingly unintuitive. Some of the slots don’t correspond to their buttons you’d expect, so you must be cautious when changing settings. In addition, the software doesn’t show you the default icons, which makes it difficult to switch default functions.At 70g, it seems to have worked. It’s a very lightweight mouse that still has enough weight to it for easy control. By taking off that extra material, Mad Catz makes it possible for the inclusion of a thumb wing – something that’s usually missing from ultralight mice like this. Related Story IOGEAR KVM Roundup Review: IOGear 2-port full HD KVM with HDMI/USB connections; 2-port 4K KVM with HDMI, USB, & KeyMander Nexus! Do You Need A KVM In 2023? For reasons beyond understanding, Mad Catz also made it possible to unscrew the thumb side panel, even though it isn’t adjustable or removable. It’s a confounding decision, seeing as it introduces a way for you to lose an essential part. The panel remains connected even after it’s unscrewed, but the screw does not. When looking at this, I'm very much reminded of the Tetsuya Nomura version of Batman or the Darksiders designs from Joe Madureira ( War, to be precise). That is to say that the Mad Catz R.A.T. 6+ is over-designed. I don't doubt that to somebody, somewhere, it looks great. Just not to me. There are too many details on the details and at first glance, it barely even looks like a mouse - unless it's a mouse slowly turning into its true transformer form? So, the first thing you'll likely notice is what at first appear to be three wheels. There are only two, the one at the very base of your palm is actually a system that lets you increase or decrease the weight of the mouse. The other two are actual wheels, scroll wheels to be precise. You heard me right, two. So there's the regular scroll wheel in the middle of the two buttons, the second is a side-scroll wheel so awkwardly placed that I keep getting cramp in my palm & thumb.

So has it always been with the R.A.T. line, though, and clearly plenty of gamers do dig the futuristic starfighter aesthetic as otherwise it wouldn't have endured. In theory, the R.A.T. Air's Wireless Activation Board means you can game wirelessly forever, so long as the mouse pad is plugged in. And while you could also stay charged forever by using a Qi wireless charging mouse and mouse pad, that's not a cheap endeavor either. I'd think of it this way: if you're using the Mad Catz R.A.T. DWS to edit some spreadsheets, then use Bluetooth, if you want to game then use the 2.4Ghz connection instead. Mad Catz announces the B.A.T. 6+ Gaming Mouse High performance, hyper-responsive DAKOTA switch, diversified accessories, and aggressiveness in aesthetics And while it works much better when plugged into its USB cable, there are enough other issues with the Air that most gaming mice that cost an eighth of its price would be better options in terms of comfort, functionality and just general enjoyment. As it stands, the R.A.T. Air feels like an expensive rehash of Mad Catz's old gaming mice.

Using the scroll wheel on the R.A.T. Air was a lesson in frustration as well. Sometimes it scrolled too much, which left me cycling through weapons like a fool, and at other times it wouldn't scroll enough. I was never able to find the sweet spot where I could reliably use the scroll wheel to switch between weapons (or, you know, browse the web) on the first try. Where the Mad Catz M.O.J.O. M1 excels however, is performance. Not only does it have a fast response time, again thanks to the Dakota Switches, but the mouse uses the PMW 3360 optical sensor that delivers a 1000Hz polling rate, 50G acceleration, 250 IPS, and up to 12000 DPI. Sure, there are mice with higher DPI, but even 12K is more than we could ever use. One of my colleagues who uses a palm grip, however, could comfortably reach it with her fingertip grip. But using it didn't always go smoothly. Sometimes she'd miss the thumb wheel if not looking at it directly, and other times she'd accidentally hit the left mouse button while trying to spin the unfortunately located wheel. Despite the RAT DWS’ rather marvellous battery life of 200 hours through the receiver and 300 hours via Bluetooth, there’s no ability to recharge. This is largely thanks to the power source of the RAT DWS being an included AA battery. This cheapens the look and feel of the mouse, especially given that the rest of the competition is rechargeable. Software and Lighting – Great for one side of the story